


Cactus

by Squidhead



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Baby Signless, Featuring, adorable bonding moments, and cacti
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 15:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5631079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squidhead/pseuds/Squidhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Dolorosa and Signless plan to brave society for the first time. However, someone happens to stumble upon them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cactus

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ratherrumpus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratherrumpus/gifts).



She patted him on the back, watching as he shifted in her arms. The scar on his forehead had faded into a mere mark, but she felt like it had only been yesterday when she fought off the poachers in the desert. A few scars on her arms had matched his; however she didn’t think they compared. Leaning over him to grab her bag, he clung harder to her in his sleep. She knew sleeping at night and traveling in day wasn’t the easiest thing for him. He was covered in painful sunburns, the desert sands would cut at him no matter how close he pulled his robes, and the worst part was how he would refuse to take a break, always chugging along as far as she would ask him. She knew they couldn’t keep up with this, she was on the brink of falling asleep from exhaustion and his little hands weren’t going to last much longer if she didn’t get medicine quick. Gnawing at her mind was the need for more supplies; there were only so many dead lusii you could eat. Only so many days you could go without sleeping. Only so much you can walk in the sun before hurting. But as soon as he so much as glanced in the direction of civilization, he would be eaten alive. He wasn’t just maroon blooded, no, he was bright bright red. You could see it in his cheeks and his hands, even with the patched up robe she had given him. And of course she had great disdain for that type of thinking, but the truth of the matter was that others didn’t. 

She awkwardly twisted around him, digging through the bag for their supplies. After counting for the millionth time, she still found a spool of thread, a sheathed worn down knife, and three sewing needles. Once again- they wouldn’t last much longer. She hated being idle this long; only able to sleep, hide and recount supplies. Urging herself to relax, she leaned against the wall of the cave. The nearest civilization was a small desert colony, filled with filth that traded the lower bloods as if they were merely baked goods. She closed her eyes. Maybe they could pose as slave and owner? Even then it would be a slim chance they would pass among the regulars, the boy's acting skills were subpar. And besides, what would they trade with? It was just a long line of problems neither of them knew how to solve. This or that, they would find more problems willing to take the previous' place. 

"Dolorosa?" 

He poked his head up groggily, rubbing at his eyes and frowning when he remembered the sting of his hands. She opened an eye and brushed hair out of his dirtied face, she winced at the amount of dust stuck to him. Of course that was what happened when on the run from authorities; however it didn't stop her neat freak tendencies from kicking in. She spit on the end of her cloak and scrubbed at his face, earning a chorus of giggles and a few weak kicks to her chest. He ducked to the side laughing, dodging her lusus-like preaning. She inspected her handiwork- same amount of dirt, just spread around on his face. 

"Dolorosaaaaaa." he mock-whined, complete with boo-boo pouty lip. 

"Signlessssssss." she said back, mirroring his hunched shoulders. She had rather liked the nickname she gave him. After a long round of asking why almost every other sentence, Signlesses's favorite game, he had recently discovered what a troll's sign was. After spending nearly two hours writing various symbols in the sand near the last stop, he had suddenly stood up and declared his independence of having a sign. Of course now he couldn’t resist the allure of his new name and sat up straight, a bright toothy grin plastered on his face.

“Are you gonna call me that forever?” 

“As long as you want me to.”

 

\-----

 

She hated sand. It had been two aimless days wandering in the desert. Well, one, the other had been spent productively since she had seen a big blue oasis calling her. She tried to gather enough spit to get rid of the rancid taste of dirt, but her tongue had been dry since sundown. After being separated from her lusus, carted off to some desert by some slave traders, and now aimlessly walking in the desert with no hope of surviving, she believed that this was the worst week in her entire life. But she had hope- that oasis off in the distance gave promise. And where there was water in the middle of a wasteland, there were trolls. Trolls that could get her back home. Trolls that could nurse her burns. At least that’s how it worked in the city by her woods; every once in a while she would get hurt enough to need help, so she sat on the side of the road and looked pitiful. Eventually some kind person would fall for it and patch her up. Occasionally she could even con them out of giving her some food and supplies.

The only problem was that it seemed to never get any closer. She chocked it up to the sun’s rays beaming off of the dry sand and the dizzy hollow feeling in her head, but a suspicious gut feeling made her nervous. How long has she been going this way? She shook her head. She had to keep going; otherwise she wouldn’t get there in time. She estimated she only had about half a day before she’d fall over and not be able to get up. And then she’d die in the desert. And she didn’t want to die in the desert. Her stomach growled. She’d managed to catch a wild gopher looking lusus (at least she thought? This place was so foreign to her) and eat as much as she could yesterday, but in doing so she had destroyed her makeshift knife and therefore future meals. She struggled to walk up the dune, the sand in her boots chafing her burning feet. The winds suddenly blew the sand, cutting at her legs, and she rolled down, only having enough energy to groan loudly. 

 

\-----

 

She jerked her head up, the loud groan waking her from her sleep. Where was Signless? She frantically glanced around the cavern to find him safely sleeping with his hands cradled to his chest. He was safe. For now at least. It didn’t take her long to realize that someone else had made the noise. Couldn’t something go right for once? She slowly grabbed the knife, willing her cloak not to brush on the ground and the bag not to fall and clunk. She inched over to Signless and tapped him on the shoulder, where he protested loudly to him getting her up. She forcefully clapped her hand over his mouth, her heart beating rapidly in her chest-loud enough for her to hear it. After looking down the expanse of the cave, she looked back at him. His eyes opened wide and he struggled against her. He gave up when she didn’t move and gave her the worst stink eye she had ever seen. She put a finger to her lips urgently and bent down to his ear.

“Someone’s here. Go hide in the back of the cave.”

He nodded grimly and pulled his hood down lower, an instinctual habit of his, and she waited until his footsteps echoed down the hall. She approached the opening of the cave, her knife drawn and teeth bared. No one would hurt that child. No one would hurt her child. 

Soon after she spotted the intruder- a small girl, no more than five sweeps laying burnt to an olive crisp at the base of a dune. It had to be about 15 feet away. She scanned the surrounding area from her hiding spot, not trusting her. There were always groups of thieves around deserts; they had enough trouble as is, being split open and left for dead wouldn’t help any. They probably had ransacked her and left, but it wouldn’t hurt to stay. She slowly slunk to the back of the cave to find Signless hiding behind a rock, his horns angled foreword and his claws held in out in an awkward attempt at being menacing before realizing who she was. 

“There’s thieves-the best course of action is to just sit here and wait till they leave.“

A whimper caused Signless to duck behind her, clinging to her back. She unsheathed her knife again and got herself ready for them. She didn’t like to kill, those days were behind her, but she wouldn’t hesitate if it meant he would be safe. The girl was alive- and in the cave. After holding herself back to scan the cave, she almost ran to the bag before realizing her ankle was hurt and then walking to it. She rummaged through it, slamming the spool and the needles on the ground. She turned the bag inside out, even going as far as to shake it more, but it was no use. She cried out before throwing it to the floor and collapsing to the floor. Signless peeked out from behind her and watched, ignoring her silent protests before jumping onto the rock and puffing his chin out. 

“Signless, get down!” she whispered, and he just shook his head. At this point it was too late- the whisper had alerted the girl to their presence, and Signless was still on the rock. 

“What were you looking for?” he said, cocking his head to the side. 

“Water. Food. Medicine. Something.” Her voice was strained and she could tell the girl had been wandering in the desert for far too long.

“Did you try the cactus?”

“The cactus.” She rolled her eyes, attempting to sit up and flopping on her back. “That makes perfect sense.”

If you cut open the cactus, you get water. Dolorosa can get you some” Signless crawled down the rock and offered out his hand to the girl. He frowned before shrugging. “Unless you wanna stay thirsty.” 

Looking a little less uncertain, the girl accepted his hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed that!


End file.
